JCP at its 86th year finds party program increasingly relevant to present-day society

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP at its 86th year finds party program increasingly relevant to present-day society

Akahata editorial

“Only your party is speaking for us. I’m a conservative local assemblyman, but I’m ready to join forces with the JCP in making efforts on three issues: improvement in welfare services, relief of the disadvantaged, and opposition to war.” This was a comment made by a local assemblyman at a meeting held recently in Nara Prefecture with Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadasyoshi and conservative members of local assemblies and town administration officials.

This shows that more and more people are looking to the JCP and even expressing expectations for the party. This is the 86^th year since the JCP was founded on July 15, 1922. A dramatic new development is underway with the JCP’s policy line being endorsed by the emerging situation in Japan and the world.

A breakthrough on hardships was the spirit when JCP was founded

In a dog-eat-dog society created by the “neo-liberalism” economic model promoted by the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, the people are forced to endure hardships that are becoming more serious than ever before and are beginning to wonder if the present social system in Japan is tenable. There are many examples that show a rise in public expectations and support for the JCP, as the only party capable of addressing these questions in a realistic manner.

The JCP has been calling for an end to the Japanese policy of giving priority to the defense of the interests of large corporations, the policy that we criticized as “capitalism without rules”, and working for a “well-regulated, people-oriented economy.” The JCP has argued that if nothing is done about the high-handedness of large corporations, the unstable employment situation, a major cause of growing poverty and economic inequalities in Japan, will not be solved. It has stressed that the present problems of social services that are being undermined, rather than strengthened to support the minimum living standards, will not be resolved and that the present issues of food, agriculture, and the global environment will not be solved without ending the uncontrolled rampage of large corporations. This appeal of the JCP is being heard and supported by wider sections of the people regardless of the political party they may support.

As the world is demanding a shift from war to peace, from military alliances to communities of peace, the JCP has been raising the question whether Japan should continue to be subservient to the United States or should break away from it. This JCP appeal has gained public support in such issues as the continued overseas deployment of the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military realignment in Japan.

The JCP is a party that envisages a future of socialism/communism along with democratic change within the framework of capitalism. In this respect, some people are expressing their expectations for a “new form of socialism,” and even in the mass media, the “limits of capitalism” has become a subject for discussion. Such phenomena that the JCP had never experienced before are now emerging.

This is not a spontaneous phenomenon but a grassroots effort by JCP members and supporters have contributed to this dramatic change. It is moving for us to observe the 86th anniversary of the JCP founding under such hopeful signs for change.

The JCP was established under the authoritarian and militaristic regime of the emperor and called for people’s sovereignty and opposition to wars of aggression. Since its founding, it has tenaciously maintained its founding spirit to never succumb to any oppression, to support the principle that “people are the key players”, and to devote itself to relieving people’s hardships.

How to change politics

Japan’s political arena has entered a new era in which the public is searching for an alternative to the LDP-Komei government, revealed by its devastating loss in the 2007 House of Councilors election. The people’s serious pursuit of a way to overcome prolonged LDP rule, which is reaching its limits, led to an emerging awareness and understanding of the JCP Program among the public.

It has become more important to call for a major change in politics. The JCP will entirely commit itself to paving the way for new political direction by displaying its founding spirit, “Where people’s hardships are, there is the JCP,” and will keep promoting its Program to realize a future of peace and social justice in Japan.

- Akahata, July 15, 2008